


Pills

by Everyday_Im_Narrating



Series: Erase [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Kid!Fic, Slavery AU, bb!Allison, platonic, werewolf slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-02 00:19:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5226689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Everyday_Im_Narrating/pseuds/Everyday_Im_Narrating
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Allison is eleven years old and learns from seventeen-year-old Laura Hale that maybe there are several things wrong with how werewolves are treated in this world, and maybe - just maybe - she can do her part to make it a little bit better.</p>
<p>[This story is part of the Erase 'verse. You don't need to read the other one-shots to understand it, but the chaptered fic, you kinda do. It's where all these branches come from.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pills

**Author's Note:**

> As promised, here is the first installment of my series of one-shots within the Erase 'verse! I've decided to upload each one as a separate story, to make it easier to find them individually; they can be read in any order, as long as you read the chaptered fic.
> 
> This one is definitely not my favorite thing I've ever written, but Laura's in there, so it can't be all bad.

Being at Aunt Kate’s was boring, if Allison was being completely honest. Sure, she was nice enough to Allison, but always busy, and there was this edge to her personality that was hard to put into words, but always made Allison a little bit uncomfortable. She didn’t know why, and right now it didn’t really matter, because it was October 31st, and October 31st was the only day of the year she would gladly agree to stay at her aunt’s. 

That was because Allison’s neighborhood was full of old people and babies, but virtually nobody her age; meanwhile, the kids who lived next door to Aunt Kate weren’t exactly her friends, but still a fantastic group to go trick-or-treating with. Plus, this was going to be the first year they went entirely on their own; no parents, no reluctant big siblings, nobody to tell them what to do. Allison couldn’t wait.

She was already dressed up in her Sally costume - custom-made to match Mason from two blocks down, who was going as Jack Skellington - when Aunt Kate came into the guest room without knocking.

(She _never freakin’ knocked_. Allison hadn’t minded it when she was younger, but she was _eleven_ now, damn it. Aunt Kate didn’t need to see her change, now that she was finally starting to grow boobs, or catch her in the middle of a very dramatic rendition of _Welcome To The Black Parade_.)

“Allison, I’m gonna be heading out with some friends. Ask one of the wolves to lock up when you leave, and they’ll let you in when you come back, okay?” Her tone didn’t allow for a lot of arguing, even if Allison wanted to. Which she did, because who the hell was going to do her hair now?

“I don’t really know how to use a hair straightener, though. Can’t you help me out real quick before you go?”

Kate shook her head, slight curls bouncing along with the movement and making Allison a little jealous. She’d always been a fan of her aunt’s hair, shiny and perfectly in place, while her own had actually been pretty decent until puberty decided it was time to make it frizzy and rebellious. Ponytails were her default now. The Sally costume was a different story, though; she couldn't really be Sally without the long, flowing mane. 

“I’m already late, sweetie. But I have someone who can do it. Hold on.” And then, peeking her head out the door, “Laura!”

The werewolf who came in was taller and slimmer than Allison; a little older, too, but probably still not an actual adult. Probably not even done with high school yet. She stopped by Kate’s side and looked her straight in the eye, with a fierceness Allison wasn’t used to seeing in wolves.

“Yeah?”

Aunt Kate took a step closer, looking down at the girl with no trace of amusement.

_“Yeah?”_

Laura sighed, but her shoulders sagged a little, and she broke the eye contact to cast her gaze down instead.

“Yes, Miss Argent?”

“Better. Laura, my niece needs her hair done. Use my flat iron and put it right back when you’re done. Don’t burn the house down.”

Allison watched with slight curiosity as the girl nodded obediently and hurried to Aunt Kate’s bathroom, coming back with a flat iron and a few hair clips. She didn’t look exactly happy, and Allison could probably guess why; having Aunt Kate talk to her that way must have been terribly annoying. Still, when Laura approached her silently and started to separate her hair into sections, her touch was nothing but gentle.

There was a soft hissing noise when the hot iron clamped her hair near the root, and that’s when Laura broke the silence.

“You didn’t dry it too well.”

Allison shrugged.

“I never have the patience.”

“You should, though. The flat iron fries your hair if it’s wet.” The werewolf said with a fondness that seemed oddly out of place; Allison kept quiet, and Laura spoke again with a soft chuckle. “My little sister does the same thing.”

Allison turned around for a moment to look at her, but was lightly nudged back into position.

“How old’s your sister?”

“Almost twelve.”

“Me too! You straighten her hair too?”

Laura chuckled at the excitement, continuing to work methodically on Allison’s thick hair.

“Used to. She learned how to do it herself now that I’m not home.”

“Do you see her often?”

“My brother and I get to go visit our family once a month.”

That seemed like way too little. Allison had never really given much thought to how often werewolves got to see their families, or to how they lived at all, really. They were just... _There_. She'd never thought anything of it, but now she was curious.

"Can't you go more often if you wanna?" She asked as the hot iron glided down a slightly wetter section of her hair, raising a little cloud of smoke. Laura made a disapproving sound before responding.

"Doesn't work that way. The law only says we have to be able to see our parents once a year from fourteen to eighteen. Anything more than that is luck." 

"My grandpa says he started working when he was a teenager but he could see his parents every day."

"That's because humans and werewolves don't follow the same rules, kid." The werewolf's tone grew more bitter, more annoyed, her movements a little rougher with the flat iron. "It's why your aunt had the right to buy me, but nobody's ever gonna buy you."

It didn't seem right, any of it. Now that she really thought about it, the idea of buying a person was starting to sound gross. But _everybody_ did it! Her whole family did it. And her father was a good person, she was sure of it. Her mother had been, too, up until the day she died two years ago, and she had been entirely in favor of buying wolves. Maybe Laura was just being oversensitive. Allison decided to investigate a little further.

"Can you say no?"

"Excuse me?"

"If you didn't want my aunt to buy you, could you just say no? Can you just... Not get sold? Or does the law say every werewolf has to?"

Laura was quiet for a moment as she let go of the flat iron to brush out a tangled knot.

"The law says we have to register when we turn fourteen." She sighed heavily. "The government sends a letter about a month after your fourteenth birthday. You take that letter down to a place, and then you can either register to be sold or your parents can pay a freakin' _giant_ fee to keep you at home for another year."

"So basically either your parents buy you back or someone else does?"

This time she actually heard a groan coming from where Laura stood behind her.

"I guess, if you wanna think of it that way."

It sat wrong with her. Really wrong. Like when you swallow a pill that's slightly too big or goes in a little crooked and you keep feeling it in your throat all day, even though you've already swallowed it.

"Did you... Did your parents keep you longer?"

Laura's hands were working faster on her thick locks now, apparently very eager to get the job done as quickly as possible. Allison couldn't blame her. Maybe it was time to shut up already.

"They managed to keep me for three more years and my brother for one, then your aunt bought us both together. My little sister's gonna have to go on the market as soon as she's fourteen, though. We weren't really expecting my mom to lose half her clients 'cause of stupid neighborhood gossip last year."

"And do you guys make money?" The question was out of her lips before she could help it.

"No. That's for emancipated werewolves. We're not allowed to work for money until we get those stupid papers, and the government keeps at least seventy-five percent of the price our owners pay for us. Only twenty-five percent goes to our parents, if that."

"But you go to school, right?"

"From seven to fourteen. Anything more than that depends on whether our parents can afford it or whether our owners will let us go. Your aunt doesn't."

Allison wanted to ask more, but she couldn't shake the feeling that Laura was tired of her questions already. The wolf seemed to have sensed her discomfort, though, because her touch became a little slower, a little gentler, almost three quarters done already.

"Your costume looks nice. I was really obsessed with Nightmare Before Christmas for a few years."

The compliment brought a smile to Allison's face.

"Thanks, I love it too. My friend's going as Jack."

"Are you guys off to a party?"

"Just trick-or-treating around the neighborhood, but it's gonna be fun."

"I'll bet. Keep the younger kids with you the whole time, okay? Don't want anyone wandering off and getting hurt."

Allison nodded dutifully, remembering the very similar advice she'd gotten from her father. And then she had an idea - Laura was older, but she was a kid, too, right? Older kids probably celebrated Halloween too. Allison couldn't picture a future in which she didn't dress up at the end of October to go do something fun and vaguely spooky with her friends.

"Do you wanna come with us? I mean, you're a little older, but I don't think anyone's gonna mind."

Behind her, Laura chuckled.

"I can't, kiddo. We're not supposed to go out to do that kind of stuff. But thanks."

"You could say you're chaperoning me. 'Sides, she's out with her friends anyway. We'll be back before she is. Nobody's even gonna know."

Laura seemed to ponder the option for a moment before declining again with a dismissive "maybe next year", finally gliding the iron through the last lock of frizzy hair to make it perfectly sleek and shiny. Allison felt it fall around her face, still hot, and ran her fingers through it with a pleased little hum.

That night, when Allison went out with her friends to knock on doors and ask for candy, she had a blast, but Laura's words kept resonating in her mind. She swore to herself that when she grew up and had her own werewolves, they'd definitely be allowed to see their families more than once a month. And go out with their friends on Halloween and special occasions. And go to school, which Allison herself wasn't a huge fan of, but knew it was necessary. She'd be a different kind of owner, a nice one, like her father.

Then she got home and split the loot in two - half for herself, half for Laura and her brother - and the look of genuine surprise in the werewolf's face made her feel like she'd swallowed a pill the wrong way again. Wolves should be allowed to get their own Halloween candy. Her dad could say what he wanted, this was wrong - what made Allison deserve to go out and have fun and come home with a pail full of candy while Laura had to stay home at all times and clean up Allison's room without earning a penny in return? What made them so different that Allison could see her father every day for as long as she wanted, and Laura was sold to her aunt like a dog at the pet store?

Maybe she just wouldn't have any wolves, period.

Yeah, that sounded a lot better.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any suggestion as to what else I should write within this 'verse, let me know! I might actually do it. :)


End file.
